Big Fat Lunchbox

The following commercial (audio only) was forwarded to me by Suzy and airs on the local radio station in Columbus, MT.  Wayne and I decided to add pictures to it from Milo's Facebook page and make a little video out of it.  I hope you enjoy it!
Snick :)

Elder Kannon Evans

Sorry, no group email this week, but here's a photo that Candi forwarded of Elder Evans in Argentina.

The slowest month of my life

Sister Alex Solomon

My zone after our service project

First off, thank you for thinking about me when it's super hot because the heat is so terrible here..I was biking in 117 degrees the other day. 117 DEGREES!!! It was the worst! But I feel somewhat accomplished I guess. We biked 10 miles in it. I also experienced my first dust storm this week. It was a really minor one but it was still kind of cool. I got some video. We were just studying in our room when a bunch of random stuff started hitting our windows. We've also had tons of excessive heat warnings popping up on our phones and iPads.

So last Wednesday, we had our first zone service project. We worked with the city of Phoenix and helped these people in a REALLY ghetto side of town clean up their back yard. And these people had a lot of stuff. Im talking, like hoarding here. It was nasty. We found some weird things.....used needles, tons of coolers filled with what looked like rotting meat, and poop (they don't have a dog), just to name a few. I will send you the picture of all of us looking fake happy when we were done. It wasn't all bad. We got to bond with our zone which was nice but you can even tell in the picture how separated the elders and sisters are all the time. I just want to talk to the elders and be like, "you know you can make eye contact with me right?" But some of them are cool and will talk to me. You'll notice in the picture that I was trying to bridge the gap.

Something funny happened this week! Our zone leaders emailed us and said that if any of use had a file named "The Aphrodite Project" on our iPads, we were supposed to delete it. We didn't have it but we asked our sister training leaders about it and they told us. So one of our zone leaders (whose name happens to be elder Leavitt) is really into math. I guess him and his last companion started this complicated equation that is based on the hot crazy matrix and is supposed to help you find your wife. It turned out to be like 6 pages long! So they sent it to one of their elder friends serving in Germany and he sent it on and I guess now it's in a bunch of missions all over the world. Anyway, somehow the mission department in Salt Lake got it and were not happy about it..our mission president got a phone call from Lynn G. Robbins of the seventy and he was "furious". Also, this week, our zone leaders had a fireside at which a member of the seventy was going to be speaking! Guess who it was! That's right. That poor elder met President Robbins (who is first in line to be a new apostle this year) face to face and had to talk to him about it. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I feel so bad for him! But also all my roommates were really offended when they heard about the project and I straight up told them that they were freaking out about absolutely nothing. They don't like me now!

Also, I just want you all to know that you can never ever complain about how long church is. Why, you may ask? Because I legit went to 9 hours of church yesterday. Yeah. No complaints. *cough* Connor *cough*

Weirdness....one of my friends from Freshman year at BYU randomly emailed me this week. I don't even think I told him I was going on a mission but whatever. Anyway he sent me this picture from some online LDS thing and told me I had a twin....I'll see what you guys think.

I have been doing better this week but in some ways it has been the hardest week yet. I'm doing better with praying for the desire to be obedient and to read my scriptures. It's sort of working! At least, some days I can't wait to open up my Book of Mormon and start reading. I'm just reading it cover to cover and marking anything that has to do with the atonement so hopefully that will help me understand it better. The bishop that never talks to us agreed to start meeting with us once a week and we were really excited until he canceled on us this week. Yeah, the first week. We also have no new investigators. We are running out of doors to knock on because members are not giving us referrals. So we started a new initiative. I realized that members will never give us referrals if they don't know us and trust us, so I told my companion we need to start getting into members' homes. We have been making phone calls all week setting up short lessons with members so that we can get to know them and encourage member missionary work. Most of the time people don't answer their phones but we got to teach 12 lessons this week, and at church yesterday I felt like I actually knew some people! Hopefully that will keep going well.

Overall, it has been a good week but there have been a couple times where I just wanted to sit down and cry because I was so frustrated with my companion and the other sisters. They always feel a need to check up on me, even if I'm in the bathroom! They'll say, "Sister Solomon, what are you doing? Do you have your iPad with you?" Aaaaah! Oh well. 1 month down, 17 to go!

LOVES

Sister Alex Solomon

Jake said this was my twin.....? 
What do you think?

Week 2? I already lost count...

We are the coolest. Well, mostly me.

Hi Everyone! 

So this week has been a little bit harder. Apparently my mission president sometimes puts new missionaries in really hard areas to sort of weed out the wimps at the beginning so he doesn't waste any more time on them. I have certainly felt the truth of that this week. I am in an area where we have no investigators, no referrals, and the members and bishop refuse to talk to us or even answer their doors. Also, we are not allowed to go door to door in any part of this mission so all of our investigators are supposed to come from member referrals.......so you can imagine how that's going. We have no way to find people and we have had so much extra boring time where we have nothing to do because literally no one will talk to us. It's sad. And to make things worse, there were legitimately 4 times this week where we went to knock on a door from old lists of potential investigators we had, and we found out that the PI was dead. No joke, all of our potential investigators are LITERALLY dead. As in, 6 feet under, body decomposing, dead. So that's a bummer.

This last Sunday was pretty cool though because we got to church and some random dude in jeans and Converse just walked in and came to sacrament. He got out of jail on Monday and he said that he went to church the whole time he was in jail and that he thought our church was teaching the right stuff. So when he got out he just walked on Sunday until he found one of our buildings. Cool, huh? He really seems serious about making a huge change in his life. Unfortunately though, he is 23 so he can't be our investigator because we are supposed to hand him off to the elders in charge of the Young Single Adult ward in our area. So, still no new investigators. Drat. 

Fun things that happened this week: I went on an exchange and so I had a new companion for one day. She's super cool and she knows Dei (my roommate from BYU)! She took me to go get ice cream and some members were there at the shop and they paid for our ice cream. So that was cool (even though I'm already starting to hate all things sugar). While on exchange, we went to the gym to work out. In the complex gym they constantly have tvs playing in front of the treadmill so I accidentally watched some Good Morning America with Dan Harris....oops! #sorrynotsorry 

They did a tribute to Peter Jennings since it was the tenth anniversary of his death. That was interesting. Also I saw a Ron Paul commercial and I really want to know what was on the website for it...all he said was go to the website for a FREE video at www.ronpaulmessage49.com . 

So there is this member here who is super awesome and we just love her. Her name is Nanette. It's like Anette but just with n before it. She is in her late 40s, she's always been single, and she is 4'8" tall. She is so cool though and she plays pranks on us. Anyway, this week we went to her house for dinner and she taught us how to say, "Repent you ugly sinning cockroach" in Hawaiian. So that is a thing I can do now. But I don't know how to spell it so I'm not writing it.

I am officially a Facebook missionary now. I had to go on my Facebook and completely modify it though. That means that I had to manually click to hide every single post I ever had. It was a lot of work! So Mom, when you post something about me or with me in it, you can't tag me. I'm friends with my mission president now, so I have to be careful.

I only have two major complaints this week:

1. We cannot work out in the gym if there's a dude in there, even though there are four of us. So we have to find something to do outside and my companion will not run with me. It's frustrating!

2. My companion keeps telling me that I need to unfriend everybody, including my family, cause their posts could be distracting. I don't get it, but I'm trying to be obedient and have a good attitude.

This is all I can think of for now but I will probably send you more stuff throughout the day....

Anyway, have a good week and I love you all!

Sister Alex Solomon

4545 W. Beardsley Rd. Apt. 2031

Glendale, AZ 85308

Here is my awesome Corolla. I call it mine because I am the only one who can drive it here.  

Also, it's a champ. I didn't get it in the picture but we have 

an awesome ghetto bike rack on the back of it.

Me on p day....when I'm not having to drive everybody around.

I wasn't going to send this one from my new 

profile picture photoshoot but I thought it was kind of cute.

La obra (THE WORK)

Dearest people north of the equator,

How are yall?! Hopefully all is well. All is well here tambien.

It´s been a pretty good week here! The language is coming little by little. I´m definitely learning patience here haha. But give me a few months and ill be just fine :) 

We have a couple baptisms lined up! One is the brother of a recent convert, his name is David. Not gonna lie he is probably one of the most annoying kids we´ve ever met, but we love him! and then also Juan, the husband of another recent convert. He didn´t really have a desire to learn before, but we commited him to read the book of mormon every day for a week with his family and now he wants to be baptized! Miracles!

I´ve been thinking a lot about the atonement this past week. I´ve had my difficulties, just like every missionary has. And I´ve been praying with all my might that through the atonement these things would be lifted. I didn´t realize until a few days ago, Christ has been applying his atonement to me since my first day here. I´m thousands of miles away, in a country where I don´t know the language well, asking people to change their lives. I should be freaking out right?! But I´ve been extremely calm. Christ was taking away my pains and I didn´t even know it. It´s crazy just how much He helps us. And I challenge you to find something in your life this week where Christ has helped you, and give thanks to Him.

I love you all! And thank you for your support!

Elder Evans

Some Elders in my district, Elder Miner and Elder Gonzalez

Sister Solomon in Glendale, AZ

Hi everyone!

So here is the story for the week... My new companion's name is Sister Williams. She is from Bentonville, Arkansas. She talks about Walmart a lot... Anyway, she is so much easier to get along with than my last companion and is just super chill most of the time. She is training me well but she stresses out about things more than I do. Also, if I start humming a popular song, she will tell me that it is "apostate" so that's kind of weird. But overall, she's easy to spend all of my time with even though I know we will never be bosom friends ;) 

Sis. Williams and I are over 2 wards in the Glendale North Stake. They are the Bellair ward and the Arrowhead Ranch ward. Bellair is kind of small and poor (that's where we live too) and Arrowhead Ranch is really big and everyone is rich. That ward is full of wealthy medical students who are going to Midwestern University. You can totally tell the difference between the two because the people in Bellair love helping us out and giving us referrals. In Arrowhead, they don't even pay attention to us. No joke, the bishop in Arrowhead avoids us on purpose. Even though it's in his job description to meet with us and invite us to ward council, he won't do it! It's so frustrating! He also won't look us in the eyes when we try to corner him at church.

I LOVE my mission president. He is so cool because he's really quiet and doesn't smile a lot but he's pretty laid back and just has that awesome quiet humor. He is more like a "spirit of the law" kind of guy instead of "letter of the law". He really emphasizes exercise. He actually changed the rule so that we have 45 minutes of exercise time every day with at least 25-30 minutes of cardio included in that. So that is super good especially because my apartment complex has a gym. Also, one of his sons is married to a Wiggs from Columbus! Haha! He is very trusting too because he let me drive on my first day here. My companion doesn't have a license but we do mostly biking and some car so I do ALL of the driving. I biked for the first time on Saturday and it was in the afternoon so it was really hot and we went for 15 miles!!!!! (Also I really hate my helmet with a passion) One thing that is hard while I'm driving is that I don't know where anything is. Seriously, look up my address on google earth and look at the surrounding neighborhood. Whoever designed these streets was so obviously intoxicated. It's a never ending maze. 

So here is my complaining paragraph (because there always has to be one). So my pinky toenail fell off this week and it hurts. I keep wondering why my eyes always hurt and why they always water and I just realized it's because I constantly have sunscreen all over my body. I'm a big greasy mess. Everyone always makes big meals with desserts because they don't have missionaries over very often but it's like they don't realize that we get that literally every day. I have to bike out in the heat after eating dessert and I feel like I'm going to throw up, but my companion says I'm not allowed to turn down. It's torture. Also, I'm getting used to taking cold showers. Not because I have to, but because it's the only time I feel cool. Ever. For some reason everyone calls this time of the year "monsoon season" even though it never rains so that's annoying. Honestly though, I haven't been stressed out at all since I have been here. The biking and heat are terrible but I try to never complain out loud so that's why it's all coming out now. I have seen all 3 of my roommates cry at least once this week and it's weird. Like, I don't get why it's so hard. If someone doesn't want the gospel, then MOVE ON to someone who does and get over it.

Now for the people we've met and the food we've eaten. My first day here, my companion and I knocked on this random dude's door and he turned out to be a tiny Asian bible basher whose name is not Steven. So that was interesting. But my companion said I took it like a champ. The other day we ate at this member's house who is Polish. She fed us potato and cheese pierogis with sautéed apples and cabbage and it was all super amazing! Also, yesterday we ate dinner at another member family's house. The dad served his mission in Sweden and so raised his kids to all speak Swedish. That was cool. They fed us awesome Mexican food. Speaking of Mexican food, my first day here was a mission conference and transfers which means that every single missionary in our mission was there (that's almost 200 missionaries). It was catered and we had awesome steak taco things. Unfortunately, I got salsa happy and almost died because it was literally the hottest thing I have ever eaten. My whole face was leaking and everyone at my table and the surrounding tables was laughing at me. So there's that. 

My first day biking, my comp asked where we should go and I looked at her like "what?" So I picked out this random apartment complex and random apartment and we knocked on the door. Sis. Williams calls it "spirit tracting". Anyway, this woman named Barbara answered. She's older and she takes care of her 15 year old grandson. Well she let us in and told us she's very catholic but she agreed to let us come serve her this week. She was so nice and I think we found her for a reason! My roommates serve in another ward next to us and they have this investigator. She really really wants to get baptized and she tells everyone at church she's getting baptized.....BUT she is a medium and she talks to dead people. Also, she and her husband were married in a weird tribal ceremony where they wrapped blankets around each other so technically they are not keeping the law of chastity because they aren't legally married. So the sisters don't know what to do so they asked the mission president...he said it was above him so he is calling the First Presidency this week to ask them about it! Ha!

Anyway, there's more stuff I could tell you but this is so looooong already... Have a good week!

LOVES

Sister Alex Solomon

4545 W. Beardsley Rd. Apt. 2031

Glendale, AZ 85308

News From Argentina!

​Baptism this week. Maria (the mom) got baptized 2 weeks ago. And Andres (middle) got baptized yesterday!

Dear People in the United States,

Ha... Ha. Hahaha.. Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh my goodness what a WEEK! In case you didn't know, I arrived to Argentina safely and didn't die in a fiery plane crash, so that's good. I can not believe that I'm here! This place is insane! Not gonna lie, seeing Buenos Aires from here kinda scared the crap out of me. It possibly (definitely) the biggest city I've ever seen. The city goes on for miles!!! But then I thought "There are people in this city huge city that are being prepared for me". That calmed me down a little, but still, this place is HUGE!

My companion is awesome! His name is Elder Garcia, and he's from Chile. What a stud. He does speak a little english which is good, but every time he tries to talk in english I have to tell him "solamente español". Cause yeah, my spanish is terrible. 

The LANGUAGE. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! oh goodness. Yeah I have a lot of work to do. Before I came here, I was told by someone that the people of Argentina speak really slow. Yeah, whoever told me that is a liar and needs to repent ;) jkjk. But oh my goodness these people speak so fast! Plus the hard accent, yeah, it's difficult haha. So every time I talk with someone I have to tell them to slow down. But I'm definitely learning! In just this one week I have learned so much! It's great! I can talk good to people, with my new words and such, but I only understand about 40% of what these people are saying because of the thick accent. So there's one thing I need to work on. But it's cool that I can understand all of what the American missionaries are saying that have been here for a really long time. If I can understand the accent, I'll be just fine! So I'm definitely going to be working on that for the next few months. :)¨

The people here are also so awesome! Their all so friendly (well, about 99% of them). And all so humble! In every "house" that I've been in, not one has had carpet. Only concrete floors. It's crazy. And they are so grateful for everything. One family that got baptized in the last few weeks, their names are Kevin and Candy, they had bought a little m&m dispenser.. They were so excited for this little piece of plastic that we could buy at walmart for like $3. It's insane. 

So yeah that's a short summary of my week. It's been incredibly stressful, yet awesome. I have a lot of work to do (A LOT) but I know that through hard work, lots of patience, and help from the Savior, the language and everything around me will be easy in a few months. So excited to be here. So excited to be a missionary. And so excited to bring people unto Christ.

Love you all!

Elder Evans